CITY 4 MANSFIELD TOWN 2
League Cup 5th Round
3rd December 1975
attendance 30,022
scorers
City Hartford(87), Tueart(56), Royle(8), Oakes(36)
Mansfield Clarke(17), Bird(61)
Ref K Burns
City Corrigan, Clements, Donachie, Doyle, Watson, Oakes, Barnes, Booth, Royle, Hartford, Tueart – sub Power(58)
Mansfield Brown,Pate, Foster, McDonald, Madden, Bird, Matthews, Eccles, Clarke, Hodgson, McCaffrey – sub MacKenzie
FROM THE PRESS BOX
PETER GARDNER WRITING IN THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS 4TH DECEMBER 1975
… The brave Third Division side gave Manchester City the fright of their lives in a pulsating League Cup tie at Maine Road last night.
It was not until Asa Hartford’s fifth round clincher four minutes from the end that a semi-final place was assured for the third in the last six years.
Credit Mansfield for a magnificent performance in a cup classic.
With tenacity and determination they refused to bow to the superior skills of more experienced City who got the flying start they wanted with a goal after eight minutes.
Normally opponents at Maine Road buckle at the knees when when falling behind so early. Not Mansfield.
Draining every last ounce of energy they tore back into the Blues to make it a match to remember, a tie reminiscent of the quarter-final battle with Coventry two years ago when the Blues last went all the way to Wembley.
It was a close shave for the Blues with Terry Eccles missing the chance of the night with the score 3-2. An equaliser then could have left City with the uncomfortable task of a replay on Mansfield’s confined Field Mill ground.
Yet in retrospect, there was never any real danger of the Blues letting their 14 match unbeaten record slip.
… Dennis Tueart and Peter Barnes were always full of menace and Smith admitted: “They caused us a lot of trouble, but our overall display must have won us more than a few friends.”
City were certainly not as impressive as in recent games, but they always knew the Third Division side would would be no pushover.
It left the defence looking vulnerable under pressure at times, but Dave Watson and Mike Doyle held the back line together…